Darkwing's Travels
by Megastarscreamer
Summary: A warrior cat from the faraway Iceclan leaves his home... with consequences.    Iceclan, Rockclan, Fireclan, Treeclan, and Deathclan belong to VWW.
1. Journey's Beginning

Darkwing's Travels

A fanfiction of Warriors Cats and the VWW website

Clans belong to them.

Story written for members of VWW website.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1<p>

Darkwing raced through the path in the rocks that he'd mapped out moons before. He heard his friends calling for him, but he didnt dare look back.

_"Ive left behind much. But I swear I'll come back one day,"_ He silently vowed to his friends.

He reached an opening in the rocks and sped through, breathing in the clean mountain air.

The moonlight lit up the area, and his black pelt reflected it.

He was thankful for the small amout of light. The trip would be dangerous without it.

He ran until he couldn't anymore. He had to get out of Iceclan, off the mountains.

Of course, there was always the other clans too watch out for as well.

_"Rockclan would be the real threat here, seing as im going OFF the mountain,"_ He thought.

_"If I go through, I sappose Iceclan will be held responsible, wouldnt want that."_

He slowed down to a walk, catching his breath. Not yet out of his clan.

_"Ive forgotten something,"_ He muttered.

He'd made sure not to have any flaws in his plan of leaving.

Mosspaw had caught him, but that was fine. She wouldnt tell anyone.

Tanglepelt and Songheart had heard him, but not caught him.

_"So why do I feel as If ive forgotten something?"_

He approached the border, and knew he had to figure out what to do, fast. He had planned on going on the part of the mountain that wasnt claimed, but the previous storm had made it too slippery to use, since it was pretty jagged. And Darkwing prefered not to break his neck.

_"Ill just race through, as fast as I can, and hope they cant pick up my scent, and that the night patrol dosnt spot me,"_ He concluded.

He began racing down the mountainside as fast as possible. Wind rushed past him as he flew with incredible speed, slipping and sliding on the wet rocks. It went fairly fast, and no cat had spotted him- atleast, not that he knew of. He quickly left Rockclan territory, trying to cover his scent by splashing water around his tracks. He knew they could track him, but that would atleast slow them down enough for him to escape. He was tired from his run, and stopped to rest under a tree in unclaimed territory.

_" And once again, I feel as if I have forgotten something very important."_

What was it? He was sure something was wrong. He racked his brain, but came up with nothing.

He decided he would rest here for the night and try to figure out whatever it was that he couldnt remember.

* * *

><p>After a long night of no sleep and confusion, the sun began to rise, turning the sky a odd color of red.<p>

And then it hit him.

_"Ive forgotten to apologize to my brother, Crimsonkit, and he still hates me. "_

As the horror dawned on him, he realized the full potential of his little kit-brother.

_"And he wants revenge."_


	2. Crimson

After he realized his fatal mistake, panic began to set him.

_For his whole life, he will bear a grudge. And Its too late to go back now..._

So he continued on, not daring too look back, and have to face his clan once more.

_When I come back, I hope he forgives me..._

That was all that was on Darkwing's mind.

It was terrible. He'd planned it so carefully... and forgotten perhaps the most important thing.

_Maybe my friends can convince him to calm down._

He knew that wasn't possible though. His brother was incredibly stubborn.

_Enough worrying about him_, He told himself. Still, it was hard not to think about.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didnt even realize that he'd wandered into a forest.

It was about mid-day now, and he was glad for the shade of the trees.

_And they'll provide some food, too. _

Darkwing had never been the best of hunters. Neither fighting.

His main strength was his wits. He wasn't one to jump into the fight.

He preferred to lay low, until he found an opening. But he couldn't now. His life depended on it.

So he clumsily stomped around looking for prey. His worries didn't help him improve.

* * *

><p>And so the day went on like that. Him finding a mouse, about to pounce, then suddenly it would notice him, and it would scamper into a hole. By the end of the day, he'd managed to catch one mouse and a measly sparrow.<p>

It was enough to feed him, but at this rate, he would be spending his days hunting instead of... thinking. And trying to figure out... I guess, you could say, the meaning of life. That was his goal. To realize why he was born, and such. But he was so tired by the end of the day, he quickly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>For the first time in seasons, he had a nightmare. About the same old thing that had plagued him in his early apprenticeship. Not being able to breath. It usually ended badly. But in this dream, he managed to climb out of the dark churning waters that held him and climbed onto the shore.<p>

Relieved that he hadn't died, he fell to the ground, exhausted.

When he was about to pass out from fatigue, he heard a noise, grass rustling.

He sat up to see his brother, Crimson, laugh, then Crimson's claw flew at his face.


	3. Sealed Spirit

Darkwing woke up with a start.

That dream had been so vivid. So real.

His whole life, nightmares had been determined to haunt him. But this was the worst. Being murdered by your own brother.

He hoped this wouldnt persist, or he'd have to go back to Iceclan.

You see, his nightmares weren't normal nightmares. They caused him to black out sometimes. Do stupid things too.

Stupid things that would kill him.

Instead of lingering on that happy thought, he decided to continue trekking through the vast forest, and ignoring all the prey that passed by him. He had to get as far away from his home as possible. He continued until after Sunhigh, and reached a muddy area, where the ground seemed too unstable to walk on.

He also heard water moving. Moving very fast. He couldn't see it, but it was there, somewhere, hiding from his sight.

He still had a small fear of water, despite his friend Tanglepelt's efforts.

Water could also trigger a day-mare, or so he called it, which was pretty much the same thing as a blackout.

He began going on the edges of the cracked mud. It was sunset again. He couldn't help but gaze out at the beautiful crimson-colored sky.

Crimson colored.

This color unnerved him enough to distract him, and he placed his paw in a wrong place. He began sliding as the mud collapsed, revealing an underground river beneath it.

_"Why is there a river here? Why?"_ His mind began to scream at him.

As he fell into the river, he tried to swim up, but already in shock, the crimson-colored sky paralyzed him.

And then he blacked out.

* * *

><p><strong><em>"Arise,"<em>** Came a voice.

**"W-what?"** Darkwing faintly heard a voice coming from, he judged, a few tail-lengths away.

**_"Arise,"_** It came again.

The voice rose him to his senses. He quickly sat up the find a starry-furred cat sitting directly infront of him.

**"Who are you?"** He asked it, which seemed to be a she-cat.

The cat gazed at him with emotionless eyes. Its pelt seemed to literally glow. _**"I am an ancient spirit, but not of your clans. This is far beyond my territory. But I have come to warn you of a great danger that lies ahead. A long and perilous adventure."**_

The cat paused for a second, as if to see if anyone was watching, then continued.

_**"You may accept or decline. I have pulled your dying Aura out of the river. Accept, you will face many dangers, but have another chance at life. Decline, and your Aura will fall out of this sacred place and you shall cease to exist."**_

Darkwing just stood there, trying to take this massive amount of information in, but then the cat added:

_**"If you do choose to accept, the dangers you shall face will be the worst of any cat from your clans has ever faced, and may ever will. I cannot guarantee your survival."**_

**"But why me? Out of all cats, why choose me?"** Darkwing asked, confused.

_**"You are a different kind of cat. You see the world differently than most. But, there are others like you. You are not alone. All cats like you must face this trial, although your's is different then any other cat before now. Your destinies all lead here at some point, in some way. I am simply the gatekeeper."**_

Remembering the promise he made about coming home one day, he did the only thing possible.

**"I accept."** He said, loud and clearly.

Suddenly the room began swirling around, and he was sucked into a vortex made out of his memories.

On the left, him falling in the snow as a kit.

On the right, getting amnesia.

On the top, him fighting with Crimsonkit.

And finally, on the bottom, him leaving Iceclan, his true home.

As the world began to fade, he heard the she-cats voice calling,

_**"No matter what happens in the coming days, just remember who you really are, Darkwing, warrior of Iceclan."**_


	4. Demonclan

Darkwing woke up...

Back in Iceclan.

He slammed his head against the roof of the Warriors den as he sat up, confused as he could possibly be, wondering what in Cloudclan's name was going on.

Back in Iceclan. Was it all a dream?

The first thing he realized was that it was foggy... maybe he'd been damaged in his eyes.

Then, he noticed the aching he felt in his muscles. So... he had been somewhere.

_"Im going crazy,"_ was his first thought.

He rushed out of the den, ignoring the pain.

_"Crimsonkit. Ive got to find Crimsonkit." _He told himself.

Hold onto a thought, keep yourself sane.

Cats moved around, their heads low to the ground. At some point he thought he might have seen his friend Songheart, but the crowd of moving cats pushed him aside, not giving him a chance to ask what was going on.

He stopped, trying to calm himself down. This was so strange.

_"I was talking to a spirit... and now i'm here." _

And then he heard it. A she-cat yowling from the apprentice den, and unmistakably, his brothers voice.

He rushed in, to see some apprentice-sized cat he didn't recognize, sitting with his brother.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Crimsonkit, or appeared to be Crimson_paw_ now, asked the she-cat, who's face was so blurry he could hardly see.

"Crimson!" Darkwing called desperately.

Crimson_paw_ turned his head and looked straight at Darkwing, horror appearing on his face.

And then his brother turned his head back toward the she-cat.

"Crimsonpaw!" He called again, this time yelling as loud as he could.

But if Crimsonpaw could hear him, he wasn't showing it, because all further attempts to communicate were failures.

He finally willed himself to move on, hoping to see any more cats he knew, but none of his friends appeared.

Whatever was going on, he was sure of atleast two things:

The first thing: He'd only been able to see his brother clearly. All others had been impossible to focus his eyes on, and didnt hear him at all.

And the second: His spirit had somehow gotten trapped in an Iceclan trance, with no way to wake himself up.


	5. Sky's Clan

Darkwings eyes fluttered open, only to see a group of apprentice-sized cats standing over him, muttering about intruders. He had last fallen asleep in that horrible Iceclan place...

"Hey!" He yelled. "What're you doing?" He jumped up and starting backing away.

Was this another dream, or reality? It was impossible to tell at this point. He wasnt even sure if he had even left Iceclan. This could just all be a big dream.

"Where am I? What even happened?" He unsheathed his claw, expecting a fight. Something about these cats was... familiar. Reminding him of home.

A much larger she-cat, about warrior sized, walked through the ranks and said, "Welcome to Skyclan. You were washed up on the shore of the river of there. Some of our cats pulled you out."

Darkwing tried best to shield his suprise at finding about the existence of other clans.

How many other clans were there?

Iceclan, Rockclan, Fireclan, Treeclan, Cloudclan, Deathclan, and now Skyclan?

"I am Leafstar. Leader of Skyclan. You are welcome to stay the night to recover from your incident, but... I must ask, what's your name?"

He stared at Leafstar blankly, not sure what to say. My_ name? Surely I cant say Darkwing... __She'll know i'm Clan. And, if these cats are like the clans back home... they'll probably attack me._ _Or, worse, attack me, then throw me out._

Desperate for a non-clanlike name, he muttered, "Void."

"Interesting name." Leafstar said. "Come on. Lets get you rested up."

Yes... he did indeed need lots of rest. He let Leafstar show him to the camp, telling him he would be staying in the apprentices den until further notice. He didnt really mind. The cave den reminded him a lot of Iceclan.

There weren't many apprentices. And they didn't like him much, either. Except the one names, "Harrypaw" seemed to take a liking to him. Asking him about where he came from, if he had experience hunting, and all the other questions that made him uncomfortable.

For all of them, he would give vague but reasonable answers, such as, "I came from very, very far away."

He planned on slipping out of the clan in the morning, unnoticed. The quicker he left, the better.

* * *

><p>After Leafstar insisted he joined them for a clan supper, he realized it might not be so easy. Cats were keeping a close eye on him.<p>

Harrypaw told him not to worry, and it was because of some "Sol" cat, who had gotten their trust then betrayed the clan.

So apparently even here, there were traitors. He recalled a story he had been told as a kit about Iceclan rebels.

This thought continued as he lie down in the den.

_Am I so different? I abandoned my clan as well..._

* * *

><p>The world spun out of control again as he fell asleep, and he found himself back in Demon Iceclan, or as he called it.<p>

_Again..._

Was this his new life? Everytime he fell asleep, to wake up here?

To have to face Crimson every day?


	6. Transformation

The morning came.

Another nightmarish night. Crimsonpaw _knew_ he was there. But Darkwing was being ignored...

He was still in this place, Skyclan. He thought it had all been a dream. But he was _really _in this strange place.

The sun was already shining with the first light of the morning. Cats were already waking up. It was too late to leave unnoticed.

He decided to tell Leafstar he was leaving. He wasnt supposed to be here. Something was right about it.

Althought, he wasn't nearly ready to return to his home.

* * *

><p>Leafstar didn't seem to want him to go- which he didnt understand why until she asked him to join Skyclan.<p>

She told him how clan life was great. That they looked after one another. That they always had a friend.

As he turned away to leave, he looked back one last time and replied, "I know."

* * *

><p>Following the path of the river he had washed up on, he began heading downstream. This was the same river that Iceclan drank water from.<p>

How far had he floated down? He could have been blacked out for an entire day.

Planning to go further back toward the Iceclan mountain, since he didn't risk getting lost, he knew it wouldnt be hard now. He would most likely be able to see his territory by nightfall.

* * *

><p>He felt like he hadn't made hardly any progress at all by the sunhigh.<p>

The river, some trees. A field. The river. A forest. A field. The river. A forest... another field?

The same feeling of dread he got when his soul traveled to Demon Iceclan, he was getting now.

As night seemed to fall, the world began to twist. He wasnt sure if it was an illusion... but the world seemed to become _hostile_. Trees seemed to twist, branches sharpening, the stars in the sky seemed to glow with a harsh energy. No birds sang. No prey rustled the leaves of the trees.

Something was wrong now. The grass hurt his paws to walk on. Recoiling from the thorn like feel of the ground, he hopped into the bank of the river, hoping the sand would give him a place to rest, and it did.

Not quite sure what to do, he decided he needed to clear his head. He leaned over to take a drink from the water.

And then it happened- his body convulsed in pain and he fell over, screeching as he swallowed down the poison-like water.

His body seemed to outgrow his brain. His vision became blurry. The rumbled beneath him.

The pain was subsiding, but he couldnt stop the final screech that came out just as he returned to normal.

Bewildered, he sat up, slashing the the river in anger. Some Twoleg must have dumped their scum into it.

But when he slashed, it wasn't his paw. It was a huge beast's paw.

He held back another screech. Whatever had done that was huge- probably a bear. This was it. His life was over. Eaten. So much for his promise to his friends.

After a moment of bracing for death, he opened his eyes, confused he was still alive. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw nothing. He didnt dare look back. That was certain death.

Cautiously, he glanced into the reflection in the water. What saw him horrified him completely. There was no bear. There was no one but him.

Except, he wasn't a cat anymore. The giant beast's paw had been his own.


	7. World of Demons

_(This Chapter is mostly talking. I apologize.)_

He was some kind of monster. A giant wolf monster, only found in a kit's nightmare. He could stand up on his hind legs easily. His claws were _huge_. Big enough to kill several cats in a single swipe. Even a _Twoleg_.

He sat staring into the river, viewing his awful reflection.

He couldn't go back home looking like this. They would kill him, or run away in panic.

Of course, this could all be an illusion. He could be going crazy. That was probably it.

Then, out of nowhere, a cat's reflection appeared in the river.

He turned around, but saw nothing. Looking back into the water, there clearly was a reflection. It was the starry-furred cat.

He asked, _"You again?"_ angrily, but it sounded more like a dying scream. So now he couldn't talk?

The cat seemed to smirk at him. "**This is a world parallel of yours." **She said.** "A world of pure evil and hatred. Darkness and hopelessness. Pain and suffering."**

_"And why am I here?"_ Darkwing asked, still not audible. But the cat seemed to understand him perfectly.

**"To save this place. Thats is your destiny I spoke of."**

**"In exactly one moon, this entire world will collapse into a pit, killing all its inhabitants and their real world counterparts. You have been here already, yes?"** The cat asked.

**"You think it is your dreams, but you have traveled to your home several times already using this world. That is why your brother has seen you. He has a rare gift. Being able to see those dead but alive. Unlike all other cats, he does not transform in this world. He retains his cat body."**

_"So our world are...linked? Am I still Darkwing? Can I turn back into a cat?"_ He asked.

**"This world is born into endless darkness. Your world is born into light. When light rules, you will become a cat again. When darkness is supreme, you are a monster."**

He had so many questions... she said that the world would collapse in a moon, taking both worlds with it. Not good at all.

Sensing this cat's impatience, he asked only two more questions.

_"Why do I turn into this monster now? Why never before?"_

The reflection stared him straight in the eyes. **"You do not belong here, in this place, in this time. It is but a phantom of things that have happened, but it is all too real. Your job is to free this world of its endless corruption. Your brother has seen it. If you do not stop it here, your clans are next."**

The clans destroyed? Maybe the world? If only he knew-

_"How do I stop it?"_ he demanded. _"How? Im just one cat!"_

**"You'll have to figure out a way to purge the darkness from these cat's souls. And from your own, as well." **

A rooster crowed- the first light of the morning shown through the seemingly endless forest, and his body began to shrink. He yelped as his wolf body seemed to burn off, revealing his normal cat form lying in the grass.

The forest began to revert to its original state as well. He sighed with relief as his world pieced back together.

**"In time, you will understand more."** The reflection cat said as she began to fade. **"Dont let us down."** For the first time, he detected weariness in the old cat's tone. Maybe even slight regret. The cat melted away with one more line.

**"They're counting on you."**


End file.
